(Gay) Theater?

A recent article in the New York Times describes what, to my mind, is a long overdue shift in gay theater away from storylines which address only the political concerns of a particular group, toward more universal themes of love, family, and general tragedy—only gay.

Tony Kushner, author of the very politicized “Angels in America”, which dealt largely with the AIDS epidemic, describes the trend thus:

“The gay community today is definitely in a post-Act Up period, and the theater has begun to reflect some of that.”

This shift is part of an ongoing discussion in gay political circles on whether to “continue fighting at the ballot box and in the courts for gay rights immediately or instead to take a longer view that involves building alliances and giving time for more Americans to come around on issues like gay marriage.” In order to achieve true equality and social acceptance, I think it will probably require both approaches. But speaking on behalf of the Arts, I must say I am pleased with this new direction.

I think the struggle that (for lack of a better word) minority art typically faces is its tendency to utilize artistic mediums solely as soapboxes for social change. Whether or not that is a valid approach to artistic engagement is another argument altogether, but personally—and this is me speaking as a white, straight, gentile male—I find that I often feel excluded from such works. I think that’s because more often than not they are preoccupied with representing gay, black, Jewish, etc., experience, and less so with representing the human experience. Obviously there is no single unified human experience, and all of our experiences are colored by our particular vantages on society and the world at large, but to me a great work of art is capable of acknowledging those ‘peculiarities’ while at the same time digging deeper, and tapping into the collective experience that resonates with gays and straights, blacks and whites (and all the other colors out there!), Jews and gentiles, men and women, and so on and so forth.

I think this is a project the new wave of gay theater is trying to address. Oppression and AIDS and prejudice and discrimination are all still very much present, but as sort of a backdrop to the human drama taking place between characters. To me, political preoccupation in art is a trick. And I am glad to see the theatrical community moving past it.

Check out the article in full here. It is very interesting.